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Man who shot two bystanders dead is still unidentified, as new details emerge in court of midday tragedy at high school.

Friends and family gathered earlier this month to mark the birthday, in absentia, of Zaid Youssef, one of two teens killed on Oct. 6 in a noon-hour shooting near Don Bosco high school.
(J.P. MOCZULSKI / The Toronto Star)

The spat between two Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School students snowballed, growing from a verbal altercation four days before the shooting, to insults flying on social media throughout the weekend, to the sparring boys summoning their friends for a planned noon-hour fight to “settle things,” court heard Tuesday.

Were it not for the intrusion of an unidentified, armed man believed to be much older than the high school students gathered, that Oct. 6, 2014, fight might have ended in a few thrown punches and black eyes.

Instead, 17-year-old Zaid Youssef and 15-year-old Michael Menjivar — bystanders who were friends with one of the sparring boys — were shot and killed.

New details of the midday double shooting were revealed in court Tuesday, as the only person charged in connection to the slayings pleaded guilty to two related offences: uttering threats and possession of an imitation gun. He also pleaded guilty to a handful of other unconnected charges.

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The youth, 16 at the time of the shootings, cannot be indentified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

His role, court heard, appears to have been much less serious. Shortly after the brawl moved from the Don Bosco parking lot to a grassy field across the street, behind an apartment complex at 2067 Islington Ave., the youth whipped out what appeared to be a revolver.

According to Crown prosecutor Michael Wilson, the youth then told one of the two fighting boys: “Yo, don’t come to my hood, eh? ... I’ll blast you.”

Court heard the youth attempted to fire the weapon, but when nothing happened, he left. Soon after, an unknown man came out of the complex at 2067 Islington Ave., approached the group, and fired into the crowd, striking Menjivar and Youssef.

That unidentified shooter is still at large, and police have not revealed any information about him, including any possible connection to the boys. Earlier this month, the lead homicide detective on the case appealed for witnesses to come forward with information that could lead to the shooter’s arrest.

“I need an individual that will tell me exactly who that shooter is,” Det. Shawn Mahoney told the Star.

Wilson said the youth, who did not attend Don Bosco, left his own school to “deliberately engage in conflict,” and inserted himself into a fight in which he had “absolutely no original involvement, and no business being involved in.”

“His actions, though they weren’t directly related to the homicides, are a spark in a subsequent chain of events which ultimately resulted in the death of two young persons,” Wilson said.

The youth’s lawyer, Alison Mackay, emphasized that her client bore no responsibility for the deaths and said he had “nothing to do” with the unidentified shooter.

But she said the youth felt remorse for what happened, and that he had cried when reading an advance copy of the victim impact statement prepared by Jina Samouie, Youssef’s mother.

Samouie cried, too, as she read out the statement in court, ultimately becoming so overcome with emotion that Wilson had to take over.

“I have thought about suicide several times,” Samouie, 39, wrote. “If I was to write oceans of poetry to express the hurt I feel for my only child it will never be enough.

“I pray that (the youth) gives up the name of the murderer, as we all know he was with him on that tragic day,” she wrote in her statement.

Wearing a white dress shirt, the youth sat expressionless in the prisoner’s box throughout the hearing, but stood to address the court and apologize to Youssef’s family, many of whom were present.

“I wish you can forgive me for what happened,” he said quietly.

Noting that the youth’s case is “another tragedy” in a city where “violence has gotten out of control,” Ontario Court Justice Derek Hogg sentenced him to 17 months of probation. He has been in custody since his arrest last fall.

“I sometimes wish I could give more time in jail,” Hogg said.

Outside court, Samouie had an emotional meeting with the youth’s mother. The two women hugged and exchanged numbers, and Samouie offered to speak to the boy if it would help him turn his life around.

“I never hate people,” Samouie said. “This person, he didn’t kill my son. And my son, he was always helping people. I will do it for him.”

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